Tomorrow When the War Began Again
by PennyB88
Summary: This is a short story set after the conclusion of the Ellie Chronicles. I have tried to stay true to the characters of Ellie, Homer and Fi. Hopefully I'm around the mark. Feedback would be wonderful, good or bad. Enjoy!


I was waiting at our regular meeting place when a branch broke behind me and I whirled around, rifle up.

'Only me', whispered Fi, hands up in mock surrender. I lowered my weapon and gave her a hug. 'Where's Lee?' she asked.

'He's at home taking care of the kids.' I couldn't believe how old that made us sound. But one of us had to be home to look after his brothers and sisters now that his parents were dead. They had all moved in with me after my own parents had died and we had become our own weird little family. But tonight was my night off from playing house. I was going out with Homer and Fi and, while we weren't exactly going to a party, I was looking forward to it. We were going on a small recon mission over the border. A few months ago that would've made me nervous but things had quietened down a lot lately. The ceasefire had held for over a year now.

'Do you believe all these rumours about peace?' Fi asked, reading my mind.

'No,' whispered Homer, right by my ear. I jumped about a mile into the air and squealed like a terrified school girl. Maybe I was more on edge than I thought.

'Homer,' I hissed at him, 'you wanker.'

He laughed and Fi threw him a look of amused disapproval. 'Let's go,' she said.

Homer gave us both a boost up into the big red gum behind us and pulled himself up afterwards. It was an easy climb across the branch and we dropped silently to the ground on the other side of the wire. We flattened ourselves to the earth and started crawling towards the tree line. The bones of my elbows repeatedly landed on hard rocks, sharp twigs and, the worst, three corner jacks. I stopped a few times to dig the evil prickles out of my fresh. By the time I stood up and I was covered in cuts and full of splinters. Brushing themselves off, Homer and Fi looked similarly uncomfortable.

Together, we made our way up to Martin's lookout. It was a clear night and we could see a long way into their territory. We always came up here before the mission to see if there was anything unusual worth checking out.

'There, look,' said Fi, pointing at an old dirt road that I knew led to the abandoned factory district. I rode down it many times on my bike as a child.

'I can't see anything,' said Homer.

'Look harder, then,' said Fi, impatiently. And then I saw it; an entire convoy of trucks driving slowly up the road, and all with their headlights off.

'They don't want anyone to see what they're up to,' Homer observed.

'I wonder what they're hiding,' mused Fi.

'Let's go find out,' I said, with a lot more confidence than I felt.

We spent some time nutting out our plan before Homer shouldered his rifle and said, 'This way, then'. Fi and I did the same and followed him. He was taking us to the back entrance of the factory district. The whole area was surrounded by bushland which would be easy enough to find cover in. Despite the strategic sense it made to split up we had decided to keep together. I hadn't done anything except stroll by the fence line for the past six months, so I definitely wasn't ready to go it alone.

Homer raised his hand and I stopped dead in my tracks. There were voices up ahead. Quietly, I took my rifle from my shoulder and crouched. Homer did the same ten meters in front of me and Fi did the same ten meters behind. We squatted uncomfortably for ten minutes before Homer gave us the all clear to move on. Carefully, we moved forwards.

Five hundred meters later we reached the edge of the military compound. It wasn't an abandoned factory complex anymore. It had been transformed by dozens of trucks and a hundred or so soldiers, most of which were occupied in unloading the trucks. The rest were sentries guarding the perimeter. It was my job to count them and memorise their patrol routes. Homer was to do the same with the comings and goings of the trucks and Fi's task was to look for a way into one of the factories.

I ignored their jobs and focused on my own. It had been a long time since I was this near to an enemy solider. Last time, I had killed one. I shook my head roughly and forced myself to concentrate. I needed to memorise the numbers and positions of the sentries; that was all. Yet, I found myself considering their faces as much as their weapons. We remained there for an hour before retreating to a safe enough distance to share our information.

'There are eight sentries, split into four groups of two, each patrolling one side of the square perimeter. They take about five minutes to walk from one side to the other. If we time it right, I think we've got a good chance of slipping by them.'

'I counted twelve trucks, all of which are being unloaded into the big factory on the right. It's too dark to see what the crates contain, but they're taking great care with them so whatever it is must be pretty fragile.

'Out of the three factories we can get into two of them; the one on the left and the one in the middle. The one on the left has a window open on the ground floor, sixth from the right which we should be able to push up. The one in the middle has a possible entry point on the second floor. All of the windows are boarded up but one has a broken slat Ellie and I could fit through if you gave us a boost, Homer.'

'Sounds like a plan,' said Homer.

I nodded my agreement. I didn't trust myself to speak. I worried that if I opened my mouth I might vomit from fear.

'Let's do this,' said Fi.

We crept back to the edge of the compound, closer than we had before. I held my breath as the sentries passed us, only meters away. I waited another minute, until they were almost at the other side of the compound, and took off. That was the only way to do it. I couldn't pause to think about it, or I would never make the dash. Those few seconds over clear ground stopped my heart. I waited to be shot at or spotted, but it didn't happen. Instead, I slammed into the concrete wall of the factory and ducked down behind an empty crate. I took a few deep breaths and waited for Homer and Fi to join me. Five minutes later they broke cover and bolted towards me. They skidded in behind the crate just before the sentries turned around again.

After they had passed us Homer, linked his fingers together and nodded to me that he was ready. I put my right foot into his hands and steadied myself on his shoulder. He stepped up and suddenly I was within reach of the window. I grabbed hold and pulled myself onto its wide ledge. The wooden slat was leaning outwards and I shimmied past it into the darkness. I half-stepped, half-fell down from the ledge to the floor. Fi appeared through the slat a moment later and I quickly stopped her from making the same mistake.

'Have you got a lighter?' she whispered.

'Hang on,' I said, 'we'd better get away from the window first, or they'll see the light.' I put both hands out in front of me and started forwards walking like a zombie. 'Follow me,' I said, and Fi grabbed hold of the back of my shirt. After a minute or so walking away from the window I stubbed my toe on something hard and swore.

'Ellie,' Fi told me off.

I ignored her and flicked on the lighter.

'Shit,' Fi put her hand to her mouth, and that about said it all. We were completely surrounded by explosives. From floor to ceiling in all directions, and as far as the light would show. TNT, plastic, mines; you name it, it was there. I bent down to illuminate the box I had stubbed my toe on. I couldn't read the writing so I lifted the lid for a better look.

'Grenades', I announced, stuffing a couple into my pockets. 'It must be an ammo dump.'

'For what?' Fi asked. Accepting the two I gave her.

'For war,' I answered. 'They're stockpiling their weapons for an attack. It explains the all the secrecy. There's enough fire power in here to break us.' I added, with a gulp.

'We better get back and tell the Colonel.'

'Agreed,' I replied. 'Let's get Homer and get the hell out of here.'

I flicked off the lighter and we made our way back to the window.

'Where is he,' Fi hissed, peering out of the slat.

'He'll be here,' I said, and jumped up to the window to take a look. 'See, there he –.'

'– shit,' said Fi, again. Homer was walking across the compound with his hands up, and with two soldiers as escorts. I put my rifle to my shoulder and looked down the sight. There was no way I could hit them both, and Fi was a poor shot. My hands started to shake and I dropped the rifle to my side. Think, Ellie, think, I urged myself.

'What are we going to do?'

And then I had it. 'Give me your grenades and get out of the window now. Hang off the ledge and drop to the ground it's not too far.'

'What are you going to? What about you?'

'I'll be right behind you. When I land, we run, ok?

'Ok,' she passed me the grenades and ducked out the window.

Homer needed a distraction and I was going to give him one. I had four grenades and I looped their pins onto the fingers of my left hand. I held tight onto the grenades with my right hand and ripped the left away. The pins were out and the grenades were armed. Wasting no time, I threw them hard towards the middle of the factory. They were still in the air when ducked out the slat and jumped to the ground.

I hit it hard and felt my ankle twist under me. I let out an involuntary yell of pain and two the soldiers escorting Homer turned around and saw us. Fi grabbed me under the arm and we started limping towards them. 'Run,' I yelled at Homer. The soldiers raised their guns.

'No, Ellie,' he said, and charged at the soldier nearest him. The one guarding his back was poised to fire when grenades went off. And boy did they go off. To say that I was blown off my feet would be an understatement. I was blown into the sky and across the compound, smashing head-first through the windscreen of a truck. My right arm stood out at a sickening angle and I was left hanging over the dash, like a broken ragdoll. I almost lost-consciousness but the pain wouldn't let me go, it was utterly consuming. I let out a small whimper and tried to draw breath. But the pressure on my chest was too much. The edges of my vision started to go back. But then into it crawled Homer, dragging Fi behind him. He was yelling something at me, but all I could do was look at Fi. She was dead. Tears came to my eyes so I closed them, and waited for the darkness to take me.


End file.
